The next day came with a bell tone and the horrific scream that never failed to awaken Insie from the previous night’s nightmares and welcome him to that day’s new ones. Not sleeping the night before had allowed Insie to get truly trapped within his mind as he had become so accustomed to doing when the horror stole his rest. He had been up contemplating the dynamic of his pack since the final bell tolled. After everything he had thought about last night, Insie didn’t know if he would be able to sleep again for at least a few nights. He was about to start making his way to breakfast when something caught his eye. Insie turned to face his bed and crouched down to dig under it for the mysterious object that he didn’t recognize. Searching through the mess of blankets that he had stashed under the cot when he had hidden Jamie from the dogs only a few mere nights ago, Insie felt his fingertips brush against something smooth and curved. He grasped the small object in his hand and dug his arm out of the bedsheets on the floor. Retrieving the item from the mess of cloth, Insie examined it closely in his palm. Turning it over in his hand, Insie realized that it was a small piece of wood, most likely a splinter from one of the pickaxes that came off while mining, that had been intricately carved into the shape of a dove with a young baby flying directly behind it. Attached to the small pendant was a meticulously braided piece of frayed thread that formed a necklace that he could tell was just as secure as it was beautiful. Tracing the pad of his index finger along the carving’s wings and all of the minor details, Insie could feel every turn of the wood, every detail that had been etched into the carving, and even the smoothly sanded down lumber of the birds’ heads gliding under his skin with no risk of leaving a splinter or cut. It was truly a work of art that Insie could tell took a great deal of time to create and even longer to perfect to such a high degree.
Bee, he thought to himself as he smiled at the tiny dove and its smaller companion. Not allowing himself to think about the feeling of tears gathering slightly in his eyes, Insie put the necklace on delicately, noticing that the braid was just the right length to sit comfortably around his neck and somehow had been groomed to such an extent that the fraying thread wasn’t scratchy in the least. That was one of the ways he knew it was Bee who had made the necklace; only she could put so much thought into every single detail that went into something like this and have none of it be for herself or even for her own personal gain. She must have spent at least two months working on something like this, possibly longer considering how meticulous and perfected everything was, and then even longer finding the right time to hide it in his cell when he wasn’t there. That opportunity must have presented itself to her when Insie was sitting with Stri in his cell last night; only Bee could take such a horrible situation and bring something good to it. Stri, Insie remembered with a note of panic in his mind.
He quickly left his cell, making sure not to show his concern externally and to maintain his normal gait, but still keep a close eye out for a particular wounded member of his pack. He arrived at the cafeteria and allowed his eyes to scan the room. He noticed that Stri wasn’t at the table, wasn’t standing in the lunch line with the other nunkers, and wasn’t anywhere else to be found in the room either. He felt his hand begin to twitch at his side and began to consider going back to Stri’s cell to look for him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately spun around, ready to give whoever thought they could put their hands on him a good beating when he felt someone get a swift hook on his ankle and sweep his legs out from under him, but if Insie was going down he was taking whoever had attacked him down with him, so Insie clamped his knee around their legs and both people came tumbling down. Once on the ground, Insie was truly prepared for a fight. He used the advantage of his size to forcibly yank his scrambling attacker towards him by their ankles and pulled hard enough to cause them to slide under his chest and into his leg. He quickly grabbed both their wrists and maneuvered his legs on top of their thighs so that his knees pressed with his full weight right into both pressure points on their legs while he pinned both of their hands in one of his above their head. Livid and ready to start punching, Insie looked down to see one very smug Rodent smirking up at him as if he wasn’t just about to cave her face in.
“Hey, baby” she mocked.
“I will kill you.”
“Awww, no you won’t. You’re my bitch.”
“I will strangle you in your sleep.”
“Oh come on, you know you love me.”
“I will strangle you right now.”
Rodent exploded into laughter at Insie’s threats, clearly unintimidated entirely. She laughed until she was holding her sides and Insie was fighting a losing battle of trying to keep his face appearing angry and not laughing with her.
After she calmed down and Insie had given up on pretending to be irritated with her they both stood up, Insie offering Rodent his hand and Rodent scoffing but taking it.
“So,” Insie began, “is there a reason you want me to kick your ass? Or are you just in that kind of mood today?”
“As if!” She countered, “I was just asserting my dominance over you.” Insie rolled his eyes with an affectionate grin betraying his mock irritation when Rodent flipped her hair at the end of her sentence. “Seriously, though,” she continued after letting out a slight giggle at Insie rolling his eyes, “I just came to let you know that Stri is staying in his cell for the day. Jagger went to take him his food and keep him company. Elle and I thought it would probably be best if Jag stayed with him today so there isn’t another incident at stations and to help Bee take care of Stri’s wounds, but we didn’t want to say anything without asking you first.”
Insie couldn’t help but register the fact that Elle and Rodent had come up with the same proposal as him and yet waited for his approval before acting on their idea; he didn’t know the name of the emotion that he felt at the knowledge so he pushed it aside for now, but he had no doubt it would come back and keep him up for nights to come. He nodded his approval to the energetic girl in front of him, who beamed in response, and the pair made their way over to the table where Elle and Bahrya sat taking turns throwing a little paper ball into one of their empty cups of ice at various distances. When Rodent went to sit down, Insie quickly sat in the spot she was about to sit down in, causing her to bump against him and stumble with a scandalized expression on her face. Insie popped one of the ice cubes into his mouth with a smirk as Bahrya and Elle momentarily forget about their game in favor of watching amusedly as Insie proceeded to usurp every single seat that Rodent tried to sit down in until she eventually gave up and sat down on the floor with a huff, causing laughter to erupt from everyone at the table. After Insie finally let her have a seat, he continued to smirk at her until she flushed a dark red and threw an ice cube at him for her embarrassment at being forced to sit on the floor.
“What was that all about?” Bahrya inquired.
“Insie’s just bitter because I dead-legged him and called him ‘baby’.” Rodent replied.
“Wait,” Elle began, but Bahrya finished for her.
“You called him baby,” Bahrya interrupted, “and you’re still alive?”
“Obviously,” Rodent reacted, “I don’t just call him my bitch because I can.”
“Yes you do,” Insie interjected
“Yes I do,” Rodent admitted, “but I almost had him pinned! I brought him all the way to the ground with one kick!”
“Well damn,” Bahrya spoke up once again, “Ince must really have a soft spot for you if you attacked him and called him ‘baby’ and your bitch and you haven’t been set to flame yet. You really willing to let her get away with all that, Ince?”
“She could find a way to get us out of The Coves forever, she still would be at the mercy of the plan I have for her.” Insie kept his face neutral and icy, hoping to at least intimidate the girl a little bit. By the way that she faltered and glanced over at him warily, it worked. In truth, he didn’t plan to deliver on his intimidation, mostly just planning to play some harmless pranks on the girl until she learned her lesson, but he still couldn’t help but smirk at the way she seemed so easily convinced that if she bribed Elle and Bahrya they might be able to save her and the responding shake of their heads no.
They began talking about nothing in particular, Insie feeling content to just sit back quietly and ponder while they spoke around him. He considered if he would be willing to admit Jamie to their pack if he could pass their trial and if he would even be willing to make him go through it. The kid needed protection, that much was painfully obvious, and once he became accustomed to life in The Coves he could be a very valuable asset, that seemed clear too, but he needed to get the opinion of everyone else in his pack before he could consider these thoughts any further.
“Hey,” he spoke up, all of his pack turning around at the sound of his voice. They could recognize when Insie had something serious to say, and they always turned their attention to him immediately at those times.
“We need to talk about Jagger.” When Insie said this, he could see just how uncomfortable the topic made everyone around him. Rodent immediately looked down at her now very interesting empty cup of ice. Bahrya cleared his throat, turning his head out of Insie’s line of sight. Elle simply stared at him, her expression unreadable to anyone who hadn’t seen it before, never breaking the icy eye contact she and Insie had made. He didn’t break it either. Eventually, Insie realized that if he wanted their thoughts he would have to ask each of them directly. He thought for a moment about how to break the ice but still start the conversation he knew they couldn’t avoid having.
“Chin.” Rodent hesitantly looked up at that, not by recognition of a name but through the determination that if she didn’t know who someone was talking to then it was probably her. Submitting to her curiosity, she reluctantly asked for clarification.
“Chin?” she inquired, looking into Insie’s eyes with apprehension.
“Chinchilla'' he clarified, watching the apprehension in Rodent’s expression fade into glee as she began giggling quietly at the new pet name. Her laughter sounded like bells in Insie’s ears, the sound ever so pleasant and yet still innocent enough to make his heart hurt in the most longing way. In the back of his mind, Insie couldn’t help but wonder what that laugh sounded like before the trauma of The Coves got to her. The thought made his chest burn and his fingers tremble, so he quickly pushed it out of his mind and focused on the task at hand. He could confront that later. The laughter Rodent released seemed to set everyone around her at ease; it always did. Never let it be said that Insie didn’t know his pack well enough to know how to help them relax.
“That’s a new one. I like it, “ she said, her eyes back to their normal bright glisten.
“So, what do you think about him?” Insie redirected. He saw her hesitate again, but this time she powered through her thoughts and voiced her opinion.
“I like him. He seems nice and not many people can manage to resist my flirtation,” she paused to glare at Bahrya, who had begun cackling hysterically at her remark, “but somehow,” she made another resentful look to Bahrya, “he did. He could be useful to us,” she continued thoughtfully, “once he gets situated down here. We do need more numbers to stay ahead of Dominance and he does seem smart. He would be beneficial to us if he got in.”
Insie knew that Rodent’s mind functioned on different levels simultaneously, always both objective and personal at the same time. He was hearing good things from both sides of her thoughts. He turned to face Bahrya, expecting his opinion on the matter.
“Yeah, we could use a new addition. It’s been a while since we outnumbered Dominance and once he’s healthy he might be useful for his muscle, too.” While Rodent thought on two contrasting levels, Bahrya only formed an opinion on nunkers outside of the pack objectively. He didn’t bother with personal thoughts unless they were an Initiation member. For Bahrya, what he had to say about Jamie was very high praise and Insie knew it. Finally, Insie needed Elle’s opinion. He turned to her expectantly, finding her appearing deep in thought while combing her fingers through her hair absently. The habit seemed to help her focus on important topics to some degree.
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“I think he could be good for us. He could blend in well with the scouts and could be taught to intimidate the smugglers with some practice, and he could build up some muscles over time and become good for intimidation of other packs. You picked his name so obviously, he doesn’t fit all of our qualifications, but if it would be more beneficial in the long run then we could overlook that. If he has a temper we haven’t seen much of it yet, and he seems to listen to you pretty well but not so mindlessly that it’s clear that he can’t think for himself. He does seem like a good kid, and as far as I’m aware nobody has any problems with him. I know Bee is on the same page as us with this and I don’t doubt that he would find somewhere within our dynamic to fit in.” If Rodent thought about things on two levels, Elle had over a thousand different planes of thought active at any given moment. In their pack, Elle was the analyst, the planner, the brains. The way she could turn any puzzle into her personal asset was truly amazing and she could manipulate almost anyone she had any desire to with ease. Insie was trusted to lead the pack, Elle was trusted to advise it. Insie had already known that Bee had no qualms about Jamie joining them, having asked her the day before, but Elle didn’t know that and always included every factor into her suggestions and opinions.
“You know,” Rodent spoke once more, “the only reason I even hesitated to talk about my opinion of him is because he’s just so-”
“Familiar.” Bahrya interrupted.
They had all known it, had been thinking it all this time, but saying it out loud was something else entirely. It went silent at the table after that, and Insie could feel the blood rushing through his veins. He could hear the roaring in his ears growing ever louder, his fingers twitching uncontrollably, his heart trying to pound its way out of his chest with every passing second. The screech of the dismissal bell broke the suffocating silence filling the table and signaled it was time for the nunkers to depart the cafeteria. The rest of the day was normal after that, with the station work remaining ruthless, yet uneventful. Nothing went wrong in Insie’s station, and none of the sumnuffs even noticed the two missing nunkers because of how much Insie mined. He was confident that Bee had kept them well hidden enough for the dogs not to find them when they went out to look for any nunkers who weren’t in stations, but just to be safe he stopped by Stri’s cell after stations. He wasn’t surprised to hear Jamie talking animatedly and Stri laughing along jovially. He didn’t hear Bee, but that was to be expected. He never had before, after all.
Approaching the cell, Insie could hear as Stri’s gentle laughter became more pronounced and Jamie’s vivid speech became more distinct. He came up to the bars and leaned casually on the open gateway while watching the scene in front of him. Bee was sitting in the corner of the cell with her petite body resting against the wall comfortably. Her legs were crisscrossed and her hands were tinkering with something small and unevenly shaped while a small sharpened broken end of a toothbrush, at least, that was what Insie believed it used to be, sat next to her. Jamie was talking about something of little importance, but his lavender eyes were wild and his grin hysterical as his hands gestured this way and that. That’s a sight, Insie thought. The center of his attention after snickering internally at Jamie’s chaotic excitement was the lone person not on the floor. Stri laid on the cot with his stomach face down, his exposed back touching nothing but the air in the cell. He was laughing at something Jamie had said when he noticed Insie leaning on the gate of his cell. He smiled, signaling for Insie to come in, and shuffled over a few inches on the cot. Noticing Stri’s actions, Jamie turned around inquisitively and nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized who was standing at the door. Bee gave him a welcoming smile, as was her way, and practically beamed when she noticed the necklace hanging around his neck. He made a mental note to say something to her over it before he went back to his cell. For now, he had more pressing matters to focus on.
“Hey, Jagger, come into the hall a minute,” he said. Hearing the direction, Jamie, to his credit, didn’t wince, but Insie could tell that he was fully expecting to be beaten worse than he was on his first day in The Coves. Insie absently wondered how his wounds from that day were healing; he would know soon enough. Insie stepped back from his position at the entryway of the cell, knowing that Jamie would come out to meet him on his own. Once the greenhorn was standing in front of him, Insie could tell just how much of a fight the boy was expecting. His eyes were warily watching Insie’s every move, his hands were almost completely balled into fists in preparation to fight back as best he could, and he looked ready to bolt at the drop of a pin.
“Kid, I’m not gonna hit you.” Insie felt that he needed to say that before anything else, and he watched as the relief flooded through the body of the smaller boy before him. His hands unclenched and he no longer looked prepared to run for his life, but despite a good deal of the anxiety that Insie had previously seen in the nunker’s eyes being quelled, Insie could tell that there was still some apprehension within them. Jamie patiently waited for an explanation, seeming to know that he didn’t have to request one for Insie to give him one. Insie took a steadying breath; he needed to phrase the next thing he said well so as not to give the wrong idea to his audience.
“I said you could sit with us for four days before you had to find a pack. That was four days ago,” Insie watched as the fear flooded back into Jamie’s eyes, panic seeming to rule his mind until Insie quickly continued his statement. “But, you said you wanted to join Initiation. That’s us. I have spoken with everyone already, and none of them have voiced any issues with you attempting to join our ranks. You should know, though,” Insie had to make sure he got this next part out before the boy in front of him got too hopeful, “that this doesn’t mean that you automatically get to be one of us. Like all other packs, we have a process of determining who gets in and who doesn’t, we’re just extra selective about who we admit into our pack and who we don’t. There are certain areas that you don’t meet the requirements in, and you don’t have any benefits to offer us yet, merely the potential to be useful to us. If you don’t pass our trial, you don’t get in and you won’t be associated with us ever again. If you do pass, we will spend a 10 day period discussing whether or not we want to admit you based on your performance in the trial. During this time, you will be required to eat alone in your cell during all meals as part of your test and act unassociated with us at all times. You will also have to do this during the period of us planning your trial. Our trials are determined based on what the pack collectively decides will be the most difficult thing for each initiate to do based on what we learn about them before they ask to join. Each trial is different and individualized; if you want to be one of us, you have to earn that spot. I will tell you that our trials are known for being the most brutal of all of the packs in The Coves. If you decide that you want to go through with this, we will devise your trial within that week and you will have it on the following Saturday. Our trials have three active stages, all of which are designed to push you to your very limit in every aspect. Our trial has killed nunkers before.” At the end of that sentence, Jamie went pale. Insie could tell that his words had mortified the greenhorn sufficiently, as his eyes were wide and he was silent for just a beat too long for it to be caused by the excess of information Insie had provided.
“This is a lot to take in, so you will have three days to process all of that and decide if you want to-”
“I want to do the trial.” Insie was slightly caught off guard by the sudden interruption, not only because of the fact that someone had actually interrupted his sentence, but also because of how quickly Jamie had agreed to the trial despite Insie emphasizing just how gruesome it could be. He almost warned the boy that this wasn’t a decision to take lightly or make on impulse, but when he saw the determined look etched onto Jamie’s features and the fire blazing in his eyes, Insie knew that he hadn’t. That could be a useful trait, he considered.
“Okay. We’ll have your trial planned in one week. Now stay out here while I go let the others know.” Insie began to walk back into the cell but stopped at the last moment. Turning his hand over his shoulder to speak to the new initiate behind him, “Oh, and kid,” he started, continuing when he saw Jamie turn his head out of the corner of his eye and he was confident he had the boy’s attention, “I am going to let it slide just this once, but don’t you ever interrupt me like that again.” He saw the boy shudder in his peripheral vision while he walked away and didn’t bother trying to hide the smug expression on his face once he got into the cell.
Stepping into the small box, Insie informed the two present members of his pack of the news and watched as Bee’s face lit up with excitement while Stri’s pleased expression nearly matched it. A part of him relaxed seeing them both smiling, the anxiety for their safety that had accumulated over the day slowly fading away. He knew that Bee was good at going undetected and would extend that skill to ensure that the three of them were safe, but, in The Coves, nothing was certain no matter how good a nunker was at flying under the radar. He turned to her, holding the small dove he had been wearing for the day gently in his fingertips. Crouching down to meet her eye level on the floor, he watched her closely. The gentle seafoam green eyes stared back without hesitation, just as they always had. Insie’s guess was that she was still only 15 years old, maybe younger, but she was without any doubt the most strong-willed out of any of the nunkers he had ever seen. She didn’t speak, and yet everyone could understand her. She could be impassive to whomever she desired, yet had the biggest heart possible for her tiny body to hold. She was broken from her time in The Coves, that Insie knew, but she had a flame inside of her that nothing had even come close to weakening. She was someone that Insie both wanted to protect and knew could effortlessly hold her own all at the same time; she was innocence in the form of danger. She also happened to be the only nunker that Insie had ever met who could maintain eye contact with him without looking away first. She did just that, unblinkingly meeting his gaze until finally he smirked and held up a single finger to point at her as he spoke.
“Now how did you manage to sneak into my cell? I know this wasn’t there when we had inspections on Thursday. When did you break-in, little imp?” He interrogated. She only giggled at his words, living up to the title he had given to her. The sound of her quiet giggling was something rare and precious to hear; it was the only noise she ever made. The noise traveled through Insie’s bones, bringing his thoughts to rest and contentment and making him smile uncontrollably fondly in response. Insie heard Stri make a content hum from behind him, and he and Bee both turned toward the source of the sound to see him resting his head on his arms and smiling fondly at them, his eyes looking more peaceful than Insie thought possible in The Coves. He couldn’t help but chuckle at how the scene would look to an outsider, sure it would appear almost as if none of the things that brought them together had ever happened in the first place. He turned back around to face Bee, seeing her smiling with all of her teeth and creases by her eyes. If not for her silence, no one would ever know what she had been through.
“Thank you,” Insie spoke softly, matching her responding gentle smile with one of his own. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, something that only she had ever been able to get away with. She only did it in very selective situations and only with their pack, if someone they didn’t trust was present at all she wouldn’t do it. She was known in their pack for being physically affectionate, like Stri, but she had a system for how she showed her affection to each member of their pack in such serious situations. With Bahrya, she would grasp his hand and lean her head on his shoulder. With Rodent, she would lean her forehead against Rodent’s and rest there contently for a moment. When she was interacting with Elle, she would engage in a tight hug that all of them knew Elle would only allow Bee to do. Around Stri, she seemed to have a habit of bumping her nose against his, which never failed to make both of them start giggling endlessly. She did different things for each person in their pack and each interaction stood for something different and showed the differences in the relationships she had with all of them. They all knew that despite their different meanings, each way Bee showed her affection had a special place for each of them, so none of them ever commented on it.
Bee rose from the floor, somehow sensing that Insie needed to have a chance to check on Stri himself without him even looking at her to signal it, and went out into the hallway with Jamie. She understood each of them so well, it was difficult not to be impressed by how well she could read all of them.
Once she had left the room, Insie moved to the spot that Stri had made for him on the cot when he first saw him in the doorway. He immediately focused his attention on the gashes on his friend’s back. The wounds were still a gory sight, but Insie knew that they had already begun healing. That was just how good of a caretaker Bee was, her patients always started healing quickly. He moved his hand across the nearby skin of Stri’s back with featherlight touches in order to gauge his reaction and how much pain that brought him. Stri shifted his head at the touch, but showed no signs of pain at it. Insie gradually moved his touch closer to the wounds, constantly watching his packmate’s face for any signs of pain. He stopped about an inch away from one of the gashes, as close as he was willing to get even if Stri hadn’t felt anything to the touch, and noted the way his brows were creased and his eyes were closed just too tightly. He was still in pain, but was remarkably better already. Insie removed his hand, but kept his gaze centered on the tense expression the wounded boy wore. It eased away moments after Insie removed his hand, and once Stri reopened his eyes he answered the question that Insie hadn’t had the chance to ask.
“It’s at a 6, maybe even a 5 if I’m not moving around and nothing touches my back. I’m okay, Ince.”
“If she had still been there when I turned around-”
“She would’ve gotten worse than what you did to the wall. Trust me, everyone knows exactly how much you would’ve made her suffer for it. Why else would she have run for her life? The wall nearly shattered and you still had a pickaxe in your hands; she wouldn’t have survived that one.”
“Damn right she wouldn’t. The next one to try and pull some shit like that won’t be half as lucky.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
At that, the bell sounded for nunkers to transition again. Sighing, Insie bid farewell to Stri, entrusting him once again to Bee’s dutiful care, and went out to meet Jamie in the hallway.
“What was that?” The greenhorn asked, “Is it time for us to go back to our cells already?”
Insie gave a quiet shake of his head no and watched as the confusion turned to fear when Jamie heard his next sentence.
“Come on, kid. You won’t like this next part.”